Ferment in Cold Garage or Warm House?

[TexasGuy]

My Kegorator is nicely setup, so I'd prefer not to take it out of commission for fermentation temp control. My house is averaging swing temps of 65-74 degrees in the closets and bathrooms. It is a poorly insulated house, and its not getting fixed still for a couple of months.

I have no way to cool my carboys. Would be be better to run warm fermenting in the house? Or put it in a cold garage (swing temps 40 - 65 degrees) with a wrap and heating pad for my next few batches?

I do not yet have room for a freezer, and current timing won't allow me to use a cooler and pumps. I'm in Plano, TX.

 

[z-bob]

Maybe take advantage of the cold garage to do a lager?
In the winter, my basement is just a little warmer than your garage but without the swings. I use a cheap Sunbeam heating pad, Inkbird controller, and an insulating wrap, and can hold any temperature above 60 that I want within reason. (I should try a lager in the cold corner of the basement...)

In your house sounds just fine for doing most ales.

 

[JimRausch]

All depends on what styles you're brewing and especially what yeast strains you're using.
Me- I would use a swamp cooler setup in the garage. The thermal mass of the water will help prevent swings of temperature, and you can adjust down with ice bottles or up with an aquarium heater. Ghetto temp. control! Has worked for me for now coming on 8 years.

 

[TexasGuy]

My next batch is a Blood Orange Wheat beer, and I'm adding 3 extra lbs of DME to increase body and ABV. I'm concerned about under-active and over-active yeast, so I really want to dial in the temp as much as I can given my available ambient conditions

@z-bob When you say a heating pad, is the carboy sitting on the heating pad? Or wrapped around the carboy? Are you taking temp on the side of the carboy? Or inside with a thermowell?

 

[z-bob]

My next batch is a Blood Orange Wheat beer, and I'm adding 3 extra lbs of DME to increase body and ABV. I'm concerned about under-active and over-active yeast, so I really want to dial in the temp as much as I can given my available ambient conditions

@z-bob When you say a heating pad, is the carboy sitting on the heating pad? Or wrapped around the carboy? Are you taking temp on the side of the carboy? Or inside with a thermowell?

The heating pad is on one side of the carboy, the temperature probe is taped to the other side. The whole thing (not the controller) is inside a neoprene carboy carrier that my daughter gave me a couple of years ago, which insulates very well.

 

[kevin58]

Keep in mind that the internal heat generated by active fermentation can increase the heat inside your fermenter by 10 to 12°. So if the ambient temperature of your room is 65-74 your beer is swinging from near 75 to 84. Until you can get temperature control figured out maybe you could use a Kveik yeast that can tolerate higher temps.

 

[TexasGuy]

@kevin58 Would that then make the argument for fermenting in the chilly/cold garage with heating mats and an inkbird controller?

 

[kevin58]

I would rather ferment warm where the temperature swings are less dramatic using Kveik yeast. But why not try both? If you are able to make 10 gallon batches split it in two and see which works better.

 

[TexasGuy]

@kevin58 I am brewing one 5 gallon batch and have already purchased my ingredients for this specific recipe.

 

[TexasGuy]

I found a corner inside by the back patio and have been monitoring ambient air temps for a couple of days.

• High 68.6°F
• Avg 68.2°F
• Low 67.9°F

My Wyeast 3942XL smack pack package says range is 64°F - 74°F. With this being the case, do I run the risk of it over heating itself in the house? Hence why I’m probing whether or not to use the garage to hold cooler and use a heating wrap to maintain a minimum of 62-64 during active fermentation.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Dave Sarber]

I found a corner inside by the back patio and have been monitoring ambient air temps for a couple of days.

• High 68.6°F
• Avg 68.2°F
• Low 67.9°F

My Wyeast 3942XL smack pack package says range is 64°F - 74°F. With this being the case, do I run the risk of it over heating itself in the house? Hence why I’m probing whether or not to use the garage to hold cooler and use a heating wrap to maintain a minimum of 62-64 during active fermentation.

Thanks for your feedback.

Don't forget to figure fermentation temp rise above ambient. I'd go with the garage.

 

[kh54s10]

Swamp cooler in either place and control the temperature with ice or heat. IMO, 68 ambient is too warm even for the yeast specified. Fermentation could take the wort temperature to 78. It would probably be OK but why risk it.

 

[kevin58]

"...and have already purchased my ingredients for this specific recipe."

Ah, well there's some information we didn't have at the beginning. Then yes, go with the garage since you seem to already have the heat wrap. Using a swamp cooler as suggested above in the house is another option but is an added expense if you don't already have the equipment. Not to mention it is a more labor intensive method requiring regular attention... and another piece of bulky equipment to find a place to store.

There is a Beersmith video podcast on Youtube featuring Chris Graham of Morebeer.com talking about yeast and fermentation where they discuss various methods of controlling temperature without using expensive equipment. They talk specifically about situations like yours. It might be a good idea to search that out and see if anything would work for you.

 

[bleme]

Put your fermentor in a rope tub full of water. Water is a better conductor of heat than air is so it will keep your fermentor at close to ambient and the extra 12 gallons of thermal mass will smooth out the temperature swings at the same time.

If you don't already have a rope tub, you will soon discover it is one of the best $5 purchases you can make. I've used mine for fermenting, washing bottles, sanitizing bucket lids, cold crashing, ice and sodas at BBQ's, laundry, etc.

 

[TexasGuy]

@Dave Sarber Heard.
@kh54s10 Agreed.
@kevin58 Thank you. I will look for the video
@bleme That's cool...I could use my immersion circulator to maintain a specific minimum temps...I wonder how quickly it would wear out? But, I'll likely start with the heating pad.

 

[RainyDayBrewer]

Try a steam lager in the garage. The yeast and thermal mass of the fermenter should keep you in just the right temp range. No equipment needed. I had great luck with it in my winter basement... warmer temp “off” flavors were delicious as fall temps dropped... a little fruity when beer was young, aged much cleaner.